FA INVESTIGATE BETTING CLAIMS

From the Independent:

As the Football Association announced yesterday that it will investigate allegations that four Premiership managers have had bets on top-flight matches, which is against FA rules, a major bookmaking firm denied the gamblers in question had done anything wrong.

The original allegations were made by a former employee of the Gibraltar-based bookmaker, Victor Chandler, and included a claim that one manager gambled £12m on a variety of sports bets in one year alone, racking up losses of £415,000.

The bookmaker's lawyers gained a High Court injunction on Wednesday evening prohibiting the identification of the managers, and some players, named by the former employee.

There is no suggestion that any manager has bet against his own team, nor indeed even on any games in which his own side was involved. But section eight of the FA rules, governing conduct, explicitly prohibits managers, players and officials from gambling on competitions in which they are involved.

“We will investigate these reports to see if there has been any breach of our regulations,” an FA spokesman said.

But Max Clifford, who has held a PR brief for Chandler for several years, told The Independent last night that none of the managers who may be clients of Chandler - and he declined to be specific - have bet with Chandler on football.

“A lot of Victor's clients are rich, and you'd expect client confidentiality for them,” he said.

He added that in seeking the injunction, Chandler had persuaded the judge that there was no football betting involved, and hence no wrongdoing and no reason for exposure of identities in any public interest.